After reading Chapter 1 and trying to mutter through I was very confused and felt disconnected to the reading. After listening to Dr. Jackson’s podcast I knew that the reading related to me, I am from a working class family. Both of my parents work in the school system as a secretary and a teacher’s aid. I knew growing up as I entered high school that I as a student did not fit the social class of my high school. I was not the upper middle class that drove a brand new car to school or got all the latest fashions. As a student I did not have the discourse between the school and home. My parents had grounded me and modeled appropriate literacy both print and oral for me all my life. My family around me valued education and the community around me did as well. I grew up in a neighborhood of children that all fit like me. In elementary school the differences were not noticeable with social class we were all the same. As we grew older and entered high school students came from surrounding areas of different class, no longer just working class.
As I related Deborah Hicks text and research to my own teaching and classroom, a student that I had this past year came to mind. I work in an upper middle class school setting. My students come to me with literacy experience and enriched family experiences. This past year I had a boy from a working class family enroll in my class. I had other students from working class families but this student was a special case. At open house I could see that the family dynamics were different with this family. I soon found out from conferencing with his father at the beginning of the year that this young boy was already “named” the first thing that his father told me is “O” (as to not tell you his real name) is difficult to handle and I just don’t know what to do with him. This child at the age of five had already been labeled or named as the “bad kid”. As the school year went on you could see that is student lived in the discourse of two worlds. The other students in the class named him as well, “He can’t read that he does not know how” He often made comments that reflected his dad’s comments and his behavior was that of an animal. I know that his behavior and literacy knowledge or lack of, reflected his home, cultural and social background. As the year continued I worked with “O” everyday to develop literacy and to bridge the gap between his social world and that of the school. At the end of the school year “O” received and award for perfect attendance! It is amazing the one student as a teacher that you could use at least one days’ vacation from, was at school everyday! One of my other students looked at me and said “that’s not fair he gets and award he is not even nice!” Of course I gave the nice teacher response and said we should be proud because he worked very hard, which is very true. I will say that by the end of the school year progress was made from a school literacy perspective and at home with dad gaining some knowledge of what he needed to do to help his child have success in school.
Angie Somers
Comments (3)
Angie,
As my students say, I feel you on many levels. I too came from the working class or the broke class as my mom use to call it and I found high school a hard place to maneuver because I was surrounded by those that had and I was still a had not. I also felt malingering attention as I often do when reading about the students that are already labeled as “bad” because I was that kid. It’s teachers like us that change that mold, and I wish I hadn’t of had to wait until 10th grade to find one.
William Byland
Posted by William Byland | June 21, 2010 6:24 PM
Posted on June 21, 2010 18:24
Angie,
That is am amazing story of how a teacher does impact her students. Many times, we do not see the impact, but I was inspired to hear of your student's success. Children do believe what they are told. If their identify within the family is of a trouble-maker and nonreader, we really have our work cut out for us to change that identity for that child. I think a charge for teachers is to find the strengths that students bring and to build on those. We can use those strengths to build self-confidence in their weaker skills.
Susan Hines
Posted by Susan Hines | June 21, 2010 6:55 PM
Posted on June 21, 2010 18:55
I too came from a working middle class family and grew up in a predominately white community. Everyone seemed to be of middle class families, except a few and I only remember that because the boy used to sit behind me in third grade and never showered because everyday he smelled so bad. As a kid, I knew without anyone telling me that he was from a lower class family, but I didn't treat him any different. I in fact even remember his name. Thinking of my class, I too had actually the majority of my parents come to me at open house with a "name" already on their child. Most of it was behavioral, but many also stated their reading and math problems. I think that had an effect on these kids starting off the school year. I really think parents of all classes don't realize what that "name" does to these kids. These kids also had a distinct discourse that was separate from their home discourse. I think this class this year especially had no idea about their social discourse, because I had many problems with that this year! I have seen more and more kids (third grade) each year use unacceptable discourse in school when talking with their peers. It seems like they can hear it at home, repeat it and get away with it. It's really challenging to fight that at school. The best part is when I call parents and discuss it, they are shocked. Can't seem to figure that one out!
Posted by Abby Boughton | June 22, 2010 8:24 PM
Posted on June 22, 2010 20:24